How to conduct a successful election

In the democratic landscape, elections serve as the cornerstone of our societies, allowing individuals to exercise their right to vote and actively participate in shaping the future. However, organizing a successful primary election is a multifaceted endeavor that demands meticulous planning, efficient execution, and unwavering commitment to uphold the principles of transparency, fairness, and inclusivity.

At ezVote, we understand the significance of conducting a flawless election that addresses the pain points prevalent in the election process and fulfills the people's aspirations. With our expertise and cutting-edge solutions, we empower you to navigate the complex electoral landscape and ensure that your election stands out, capturing the attention and trust of voters.

How do you evaluate a political candidate?

Evaluating a candidate is a process that involves scrutinizing their position on pivotal issues and their leadership qualities, plus the experience they'll bring to the position. While both are important, start with deciding the issues the institution cares about and the qualities needed in the bearer of the office.

To get to this stage, you'll need a solid plan which involves:

Actively looking for nominees

Members are more likely to vote when they have real choices on the ballot. One of the largest challenges is finding qualified candidates for leadership positions that want to serve.

The nomination committee should not focus just on nominating candidates but on increasing the pool of volunteers from which those candidates are recruited. That means finding ways to make it easier for members to integrate volunteer leadership into their busy lives. Then they will need training and support to advance into those leadership positions.

This nomination process must be transparent and inclusive so members know what they are getting into and feel welcome when they take those first steps into deeper involvement.

Updating membership database

This involves the verification of postal and email addresses and purging entries no longer associated with membership. If required for the ballot, procure candidate biographies and photos to provide voters with a comprehensive understanding of their potential leaders.

Coordinating advertisement efforts with other departments

Coordinating with other staff and departments ensures a unified and impactful promotional campaign to improve voter turnout. Decide if you'll post a link on the website, have voting advertisements in newsletters, or send reminder email blasts.

Once you're settled on the mode of advertisement, you need to decide on the frequency of the advert on these channels.

How can we make sure elections are fair?

Credible elections should reflect the free expression of the voters. This is achieved by having transparent, accountable, and inclusive elections. There should also be equitable opportunities to compete in these elections.

Transparency implies that every stage of the election cycle is open, clear, and subject to inspection. This transparency should also extend to procedures for addressing grievances and disputes that may emerge throughout the electoral process.

Inclusivity signifies that every eligible voter should have an equal opportunity to cast their vote. This encompasses making voting tools accessible, offering special voting arrangements for the elderly and disabled, and working diligently to eradicate any obstacles that could prevent marginalized or minority groups from voting.

These principles can be met by proper administration. Decide if you'll need to complement digital voting with paper ballots and who will be responsible for the printing, stuffing, mailing, and, most important, opening and tallying the ballots. Who will send out election reminders? And will the paper ballot results be entered into the digital system?

Vote Tabulation

Thanks to online voting platforms, tallying the votes is no longer a painful part of the ballot process. If you still have some paper ballots, these data may be integrated directly into the online votes so that you have all the ballot data in one place, in real-time!

You need a detailed plan for notification; how will the election results be posted and announced? Will you send an eblast to every member or post it on the website? And will it be done after the voting or at a separate convention or meeting? Who will know the results after the close but before they are announced?

How to protect election integrity

Promote members' confidence in the system and results by providing fair access to voting tools and training the election officials. You can also address tensions and issues inherent in the election administration.

For digital voting, have bank-level encryption to protect the voting process and your organization's data. To ensure nothing interferes with your voting event, your online voting platform should be hosted by data centers protected against environmental or manmade disasters with redundancy built into the infrastructure and data automatically backed up.

As always, have a complete administrator and voter activity audit trail, including ballot modifications, vote time stamps, and receipts. If you give appropriate attention to these five key elements, your members and other stakeholders will trust that your presidential election was run fairly and with integrity.

Need Help?

Planning a successful online election is tasking and needs the right tools; that's where ezVote Online comes in to help. We offer online voting solutions for different scenarios, and our servers are secured to guarantee the safety of data and voter information.

Contact us, and let us take you through setting up an account and creating a ballot.